Rowdy had me awake and moving by 0630. I worked my way through my morning ritual of cream of wheat, and got the house ready for Joanne and the girls. I also worked on another Blog post with Rowdy twitching at my feet.

Once everyone had their breakfast and showered, we took off to visit a new Dog Park here in Alpharetta. The place has a lot of acreage and a terrific stream that pulls through the property that the dogs clearly (and kids) enjoy. It looks like a good area to run as well.

Joanne, emma Jo and I then ran some errands that included tracking down some water shoes (so Emma Jo and I can hike through that creek later), other stuff for our pending trip to Disney World (staying at the Grand Floridian), and I had to pick up some new Lacrosse gear (this will offer up it’s own story in the next few days).

It was hot, so as we approached home, Emma Jo convinced me to take her to our neighborhood pool. I hate that pool. In fact, I don’t really like any public pool – but, mostly because they use chlorine, and I don’t care for the feel most pools offer the bottoms of my feet and toes. Plus, the pool is, in my opinion, small and unworthy of our neighborhood. Our own pool uses saline and is pebbled. But, about six weeks ago, a storm with LOTS of rain caused a chunk of our landscaping to slide into the pool. It’s under repair, and should be useful by the end of this weekend (about time so we can finally have our Shockers season-end pool party). Emma Jo and I went ahead because Joanne wanted to tidy up the house. Along the way we happened into Haley Anne and her BFF Emily biking their way home. They decided to join us at the pool and rushed home to get Joanne moving.

Emma Jo and I were having a terrific time in the water (even with the chlorine). She lets me throw her around now, and her big grins can keep me occupied for hours. But, then Joanne showed up and I could see she was tense. I gave her a smile, that was not returned. I did get a curt: “Come over here”. It turns out that one of the powder rooms downstairs (we have s many bathrooms in that obnoxious house that we have to actually call some of them powder rooms). She described the mess she had just dealt with (I have to admit, it did sound unpleasant). I had this uneasy feeling that it was my fault. That is simply a husband thing, I am sure.

So, I had, on that very spot (treading water, no less) a spur of the moment inspiration – a barbecue!

It was so simple. I would champion a great cause, and prepare a feast for my family. Surely this would please Joanne.

Haley Anne, Emily, and another neighborhood crony, Anna, were engaged in mayhem within the pool, and Emma Jo was flitting in-and-amongst them. So, she had lost interest in me, which in turn allowed me to slip from the pool (glistening and magnificent I might add) and stride manfully purposefully over to Joanne where she was conspiring conversing with several neighbor ladies. As I toweled myself dry I casually announced that I was off to Publix to pick up items with which I would prepare dinner. This elicited both exclamations of admiration from the ladies, and a smile of gratitude from Joanne. And, with the world spinning properly on its axis now, I was off.

And, unaware of the adventure that lay ahead.

I quick-stepped it from the club house and around the corner to the house. I made a quick change, jumped into my (unbadged) Cayman and zipped my way to Publix. The tour of that grocery store (are they still called that?) was, in of itself uneventful. I managed to pick up the essentials for the barbecue (Bratwurst, buns, corn, beans [why? no one actually ever eats them], coal – and, a bunch of other things that most trained shoppers know to avoid, but hapless and unsuspecting Dudley Do-Rights like me can’t resist (flowers, candy, razors, more flowers, a box of fried chicken [dark meat], fitness magazine, another set of screw drivers I will never use, and a pound of peeled shrimp).

I lugged my materieleste (don’t bother looking to the dictionary for that pearl, I made it up) cargo out to my ass-ripping sled, slammed the shopping cart into the rack (from a record 80 ft), navigated past Starbucks, spun onto Bethany road, and accelerated with a big self-indulgent grin splayed across my deeply flawed visage. I cleared the light (is it Bethany Bend? I just realized I never noted the name of that road) accelerating smoothly. NOTE: The Porsche’s growl is both intoxicating as well as satisfying. As I approached Hopewell I noticed a tall angular figure on the other side of the road striding in the direction from whence I had come, and apparently speaking earnestly on a cellular telephone. It looked like Nathan, a rasta-haired (and capped) black dude I see at Starbucks almost every morning (I certainly saw him that very morning), whom is apparently a school bus driver, and drives a 1973 Mustang Fastback. I had my mind made up in an instant and executed a U-turn at Bethany and Hopewell (barely reducing speed as there was no traffic in-sight). I pulled up alongside Nathan – and, immediately realized it wasn’t him after all – just as I let loose with:

“Nathan! Wassup, Brother!”

The dark fellow paused and considered me. His cellular telephone was no where in sight. He did, for the record, resemble Nathan. And, it occurred to me I really did not know the man (Nathan). Nonetheless, it entered my head that God had me there for a purpose (that is, as was to be quickly demonstrated, dangerous and stupid thinking). I steeled my resolve, thumped the window frame of my sled and offered him a ride. He looked up the road, nodded his head, and actually shrugged his shoulders. He then carefully crawled into the passenger side of the cockpit. He even tapped his boots on the road to clear them of debris. While he was doing this it struck me that automobiles like this are not designed for really tall people – and, then it got me to thinking about natural selection – and I, seriously, made a mental note to research size to weight ratios of pilots, race car drivers and Porsche owners. In any event, I checked all my mirrors; there was no traffic either way. I told him to buckle-up as I accelerated onto the road, kicking up some gravel. I asked him where he needed to be, and he quietly said he had a ride to catch up on Highway 9. Then, without, seemingly, taking another breath, he turned his head to me and inquired:

“Is that fried chicken I can smell?”

I thought quickly he might be hungry, and concluded that I would give him the box when I stopped the car. However, before I could say anything he had a large and serrated knife in his hand, and added – with this odd hollow rasp to his voice:

“What if I killed you for that chicken?”

I supposed everyone, after events, confrontations, disputes, arguments, what ever, come up with cool, witty or appropriate retorts. But, mine was both uninspired and unoriginal. It did not occur to me, only just then, that attempting to gut a stranger piloting a vehicle accelerating to 60MPH, was both risky and ill-advised. But, as everything snapped into clear focus, I felt I could hear a pin drop; time stood still; I could see everything; my arms felt as though they had turned into steel wire; and, rage was building up quickly, no surging, in the back of my neck.

I was, perhaps, a heart-beat away from lashing out and grabbing the blade, maybe his wrist, possibly just driving my fist into the side of his head; but, I heard myself say, and with an odd calm in my voice that I can’t recall that I felt:

“Holster the blade dude. Or, I will pin you to a tree with it”.

Of course, that made absolutely no sense.

I then realized he had the knife in his left hand, and I was sure he was right-handed (I don’t know why this is; maybe I had subconsciously noted he had opened the car door with his right hand). He looked at me evenly – almost sideways like, and said through (I swear) clenched teeth:

“I reckon you just might.”

I was, oddly, thinking “chicken?”. We had approached the turn into the parking lot for the strip mall where choices need to be made around Taco Mac, Starbucks, Publix, and a host of other, suddenly unimportant, destinations. I pulled to a stop. The knife disappeared into a back-pack at his feet (I had not seen that before). It actually entered my head to offer him the chicken. I was not angry. I did feel like I had some element of control. But, without a word, he pushed the door open and pulled himself out. I watched him for a moment as he paced his way to the corner of Hwy 9 and Bethany Road. I circled around the bank (it has one of those odd regional sounding names), pulled back onto Bethany Road and drove, otherwise uneventfully, home.

We had our barbecue on the back deck. Even though we had an outdoor kitchen built off the pool last year, I thought it might be fun and easier to sit around the low fire pit we have off the kitchen. The girls insisted on the chicken first. Only I bothered to even try those stupid beans.

“peaceful Uneasy feeling”

Well certainly I will. I am afterall BB Webb…one known to expressing a view or two. The world is shifting….’rebooting’ in geeky terms. There is an energetic shift happening on the planet and for those who continue to resist, unfortunately the dear saps will struggle and suffer. (Read Eckhert Tolle or Osho). This is a time for letting go. So, you wonder no doubt how that might apply to your blog post sir…. the desperate are getting more desperate (I’m thinking too of your post from today….the pandamonium is increasing)…and the folks seeking a greater peace and calm (enlightenment) are instead surrendering, to ‘what is’ and finding their place in the world, taking responsibility for themselves’ they’re giving up their imprisonment. There is no need for defensiveness or anger…only the courage to stand with what is true to each of us individually. You’re a great example of that in parts of YOUR life. But watch. People will begin to question more and more why they do what they do and what fable they’ve bought into. Consider Howard Roarke….you’re an Ayn Rand fan. You’ll see more and more chaos….folks wanting to control and manipulate out of fear, create what ultimately is a false sense of security. It’s all fear.

I’m recently taken by a line in a NickelCreek song… ‘Only the curious have something to find.’ Curiosity is about surrender and heart. When I open my heart and stop trying to control with my mind, things shift, I let go of what no longer works. We’re a third chakra MIND-Y culture and it’s killing us. Our mind is limited. So, choices need to include heart and be made with love….always with love. Watch. In 6 months we’ll notice the changes and look back to today and if we’re awake, just say, ‘Wow!” There will be no need for consternation and for those stuck in anger, entitlement, blame, the folks who pull out KNIVES when they smell dark chicken meat, something’s afoot indeed. If they were coming from a heart center, they’d never do that. This ain’t your ordinary time in history Mr. Cork. We’re preparing for 2012 and merging perhaps our more spiritual selves with our human selves. And guess what, our souls chose arriving just when they did!! How cool is THAT!!?

Gee, got more than ya bargained for, eh?? Keep writing, it’s fun to read. The images you share of yourself illustrate such healthy molting. Grand! So, in short….which I rarely am…ultimately, the only good choice is being loving, to ourselves first and then others. Period.

Thoughts from the humble peanut gallery waaaaaaaaay in the back. Just watching.

I am told that our cost for healthcare in this country will exceed three tillion dollars in the next twenty years. There is no plan, that exists today, that can address this pending calamity. This is the tip of the iceberg in terms of a culture, if not (global) society, is fraying and could come completely unwound.

So… We see cracks (crack pots?) all the time. But, how often, and what accelerated pace will we see this evidenced further through 2012 to 2029? There is a lot of pressure on people to simply survive – let alone thrive in a way they see portrayed on television. This makes me think of “Gen Y” – the hapless (they don’t even know how to see what is coming) group so many other generations are picking on in terms of their evident sense of entitlement against diminishing opportunity for people that can’t/ won’t compete with an edge.

So, for those who are willing or driven in this direction, (to prosper, grow and expand our possibilities), we’ll need to keep that edge sharp and pay keen attention to what is happening around us. Not everyone can be a leader and not everyone is a soldier, or warrior to the cause of greater good. I suppose we need to keep eating our fortified Wheaties sir. And we’d best learn to swim! And darn to that, I’m terrible in the water. I suppose I can adapt….though I’ll probably build a sturdy raft as I’ll still want to hang with comrades and host an event or two!

I am reminded of a Brian Andreas quote….my mission statement in life really, ‘There are things you do because they feel right and they may make no sense and they may make no money and it may be the real reason we are here: to love each other and to eat each other’s cooking and say it was good.’ http://www.brianandreas.com (his Story People rock). A lovely and inspired dude as are you!! Rally on warrior! Here’s to ‘edgy!’

What’s All This About?

You'll also learn things about, well, things, like people you need to know about, and information about companies you can't find anywhere else.

So, while I harangue the public in my not so gentle way, you will discover that I am fascinated by all things arcane, curious about those whom appear religious, love music, dabble in politics, loathe the media, value education, still think I am an athlete, and might offer a recipe.

All the while, striving mightily, and daily, to remain a prudent and optimistic gentleman - and, authentic.